Clayton Murzello: Ta-Ta Prakash Palekar, rest in peace

Prakash Palekar didnrsquot own a recruitment agency but a flock of Mumbai cricketers are indebted to him for being employed in various Tata firms Mumbaibased Palekar 74 died recently in Pune where he went to visit some friends a passing which has greatly saddened the cricketing fraternityIn July he organised a gettogether involving a few Tata players at the Worli residence of former Test bowler Umesh Kulkarni The rains were playing havoc and Palekar just wouldnrsquot entertain Kulkarnirsquos attempts at postponing the luncheon party ldquoI donrsquot have timerdquo he said to Kulkarni more than oncePrakash Palekar with Ratan Tata extreme left Dilip Vengsarkar and then Mumbai Cricket Association president Manohar Joshi extreme right during Vengsarkarrsquos benefit match at Wankhede Stadium on October 20 1994 Picmidday archivesPalekar came to Sportsfield armed with three laminated copies of this newspaperrsquos 37th anniversary piece on Rajasthan Sports Clubrsquos 1979 Kanga League lsquoArsquo division pennant victory During the function he presented a copy to Pushkaraj Shenai the son of late Prakash Shenai the Rajasthan SC team manager who was mentioned a few times in the piece One copy was presented to host Kulkarni and Palekar kept the third one for himself The words ldquoI donrsquot have timersquo reverberate in Kulkarnirsquos head and some of Palekarrsquos friends are left wondering whether he had a premonition of his deathHe will always be synonymous with cricket at Tata Sports Club but Palekar also played a significant role in popularising cricket in Vile Parle East Former Test bowler Ajit Pai recalled playing tennis ball cricket with Palekar and efforts of Palekar and brother Aru Pai towards success of Vile Parle Recreation Club Interestingly Pai didnrsquot play with a season ball till the age of 21 Both childhood friends last spoke and reminisced mdash for an hour mdash on Friendship Day on August 8Prakash Kelkar another Mumbai cricket goto man from Vile Parle partnered Palekar in organising benefit matches for former players In a 1990 Sunday column which he wrote after witnessing a successful benefit match for Eknath Solkar Sunil Gavaskar called Kelkar and Palekar ldquotwo indefatigable cricket lovers who slogged to make sure that everything was hitchfreerdquoSunil Gavaskar who was in the West Indies when he learnt about Palekarrsquos death reacted by saying ldquoThatrsquos sad news indeed He was sending me my favourite Tata diary for the last few years He was one of those passionate cricket lovers who served the game selflessly in an administrative capacity May his soul rest in peacerdquoIndiarsquos chief selector Sandeep Patilrsquos mind raced back to 1976 when at the Western Railway ground in Mahalaxmi he scored a quickfire 60 for Century Rayon against Tata Sports Club in a Times Shield game Later that evening he was offered a job at Tata by then captain Milind Rege with Palekar the secretary of the club present ldquoI got closer to Mr Palekar at Tata Oil Mills TOMCO He was instrumental in my trip to UK for league cricket sponsored by TOMCO and gave me tips on how to handle immigration officials at Heathrow airportrdquo Patil told meRege called Palekar ldquoa man of great visionrdquo for initiating the Tata intercompany cricket tournament ldquoNo one had thought about this activity in the group What followed was football hockey all indoor games mdash tennis badminton bridge and so many more He created a Tata family through sportsrdquo said RegeApart from being involved in interoffice cricket Palekar was also a Mumbai Cricket Association MCA managing committee member for two seasons Vilas Godbole who was then the MCA Jt Secretary reckoned Palekarrsquos greatest contribution to city cricket was his realisation that cricketers must get employed Godbole remembered Palekar as a lover of Marathi literature and a keen traveller to all parts of the world He requested both teams playing their Kanga League fixture at his United Cricketers club Cross Maidan to observe a minutersquos silence in honour of PalekarWhat was Palekar like at Bombay House Former world billiards champion Michael Ferreira said ldquoPrakash and I were colleagues in TOMCO when the late Vinod Bali was the boss Both were passionate about cricket with Vinod throwing his room open for the entire staff to watch matches on his TV if they wished I have no doubt that Prakash nudged him in that direction Prakash also had a dry and sly sense of humour He was a very good friend and ardent supporter of sportsmen in the corporate systemrdquoInteroffice cricket is not what it used to be in Mumbai Employment due to cricketing ability is nearextinct There are multiple reasons for this depressing turn in city cricket One of them is the lack of passionate benefactors such as Prakash Palekarmiddayrsquos group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance He tweets ClaytonMurzelloSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycom